Week 33: A Visit with Aunt Imogene

With school set to start in just a few days, Janie and Kyle finished their summer break by staying with their dad’s sister, Imogene, up in Greasy Fork. Aunt Imogene was a little older than their dad would have been, and her kids had all moved on to their own lives. So, she insisted the twins spend at least a week or two with her every summer. Even when they were younger, Imogene would bring them up to play with their older cousins as much as they could. Janie decided much later that it was a way to keep a piece of her brother close by since he’d been gone so many years. 

Will, Imogene’s brother and the father of Kyle and Janie, left for the Marines just before the twins were born. Unfortunately, he never made it home to meet his babies. So, Imogene made sure that the two kids knew all about their daddy and his side of the family.

With the threat of high school looming over them, Kyle and Janie were both filled with equal parts dread and excitement. Peril County High was a small school by pretty much any standard, and they knew most of the kids that would be enrolled with them. But, it was still a new school, with new routines and new teachers, and there was some apprehension on their part. 

“Have you checked your schedule yet?” Kyle asked his sister as he sat down at a small breakfast nook. Aunt Imogene had left a box of cereal, some yogurt, juice, and milk out for them. 

“Yeah,” she said, unable to hide her disappointment. 

Kyle poured some cereal into a paper bowl and topped it off with a splash of milk. “Can’t be that bad,” he said.

Janie had already finished her breakfast, so she downed her juice and started collecting her dishes. “Well, I’ve got Health and PE first period, so if I get hot and sweaty, I’ll stink all day. And none of my friends are in any of my classes.”

“What did you get for your elective?” Kyle asked, scooping a huge spoonful into his mouth.

“Home Ec.,” she called over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen. She tossed her glass and spoon into the dishwasher and threw the disposable bowl into the garbage. “What about you?”

Kyle was already pouring more cereal into his bowl when she walked back into the breakfast nook. “Computer Science,” he said flatly. 

“What are you two heathen’s jawin’ so hard ‘bout this mornin’?” Aunt Imogene asked as she came down the steps. She was in her early fifties with gray-blonde hair that went just to her shoulders. She was still pretty, but Janie had seen pictures of her from a few decades ago, and Aunt Imogene was a knockout in her younger days. “We got too much stuff to do today for you’uns to be lolly-gaggin’ around all mornin’!” she said with a smile. 

Kyle let out a whiney sort of sigh. “C’mon, Aunt Imogene! We gotta start school in like four days. Can’t we just hang out today?”

“Son, quit that belly-aching and run and put you some old shorts and flip-flops on. I got a job fer you and yer sister.” Defeated, Kyle dropped his shoulders and slinked to the bedroom he’d been using. 

Janie, used to cleaning up his messes, gathered up his bowl and glass and took them to the kitchen. “What kind of job, Aunt Imogene?”  

She held up a hand to her niece, letting her know to wait until Kyle returned. He bounded back into the room in just a few seconds. “Alright, we’re gonna have an old timey kind ‘a day here today. I’m gonna show you’uns how me and yer daddy used ta play when we was kids.”

Kyle furrowed his brow. “We ain’t exactly kids anymore, Aunt Imogene. We’re gonna be in high school starting next week.”

“Ain’t never too big to learn to play, son,” she said in a pretty serious tone. 

Janie thought back to staying with her Granny Wilma as a small girl and hearing about all the old mountain ways. For Kyle, it was always the newest toy or game. But Janie was what Granny Wilma called “An old soul,” and she loved learning all she could about what life was like when her daddy was growing up and even from way before then. “That sounds great, Aunt Imogene. What are we gonna do?” 

The three of them went outside where Imogene had sat a box of street chalk down on the concrete. She bent down and drew a grid of boxes. “I know y’all heard of hop scotch, right?” Both twins nodded. “But, have you ever actually played it?” She took a few minutes to draw numbers in the squares and explain the rules. The tossing of the rock confused Kyle tremendously, but after actually doing it a few times, it became second nature. 

Janie found the game fun, if a bit childish, but she could tell that her brother was getting pretty bored fast. “Did you and Dad play this, Aunt Imogene?” she asked, trying to engage her brother as well. 

“Oh, honey. Your dad HATED hopscotch. Said it was a girl’s game. But I wanted you all to get a little taste of it before we moved on. Y’all ready for somethin’ else?” 

The twins both nodded and Janie could see some relief in her brother’s face. Clearly, he was not having the best of times. 

“Kyle, honey, run into the shed a grab a hatchet for me.” A bewildered look came over the young teen’s face, but he did as he was told and soon came out holding a small hand axe. “Now, I want you to go out back and find us three long limbs. At least six foot. Cut ‘em off a tree and then chop off any little branches and leaves off of it. Don’t go cuttin’ off yer arm or nothin’ while yer at it.” 

He nodded, clearly excited to be doing something that might be considered ‘dangerous,’ and jogged around to the back of the house. In just a moment, the sound of inexperienced wood chopping boomed from behind the house. 

“Janie, honey, I want you to head into the shed and find me a pair of sheers, some fishin’ line and some hooks.” She did as she was told. 

Inside the shed, she saw countless antique wonders that had always fascinated her. There was an old cola dispenser that belonged to her grandfather. He ran a little store at the head of the holler that miners would stop at on their way to work for tobacco and food to take underground with them. When the mines closed, so did the store. But Grandpa Lawson had brought a lot of the advertising signs and this bottle fridge home with them after the store went out of business. There were also old pieces of farm equipment that Janie wasn’t sure about but looked equally dangerous and exciting. After a minute of searching, she found the items she was looking for and headed back out.

Kyle had already returned with three long branches. He was now taking the hatchet and slicing off the protruding limbs from the base. He handed each one to Aunt Imogene as he finished for her to inspect.

“Not bad, my boy. Not bad at all. Now, there’s a plastic bucket over by the door. Grab that and take off your shoes.” The two shared a strange look of confusion, but slid off their shows and grabbed the bucket. Aunt Imogene led them down to the creek that ran just past her house. “Y’all ever hunted crawdad’s before?” she asked. 

Janie remembered playing in this very creek as a small girl several years ago and having a crawdad pinch her toe. She looked over at Kyle, who had always been a self-professed ‘inside kid’ and he looked miserable. “I have, a time or two,” she told her aunt. 

“Well, we’re gonna need around nine. So, turn up rocks and they’ll probably be underneath. Just grab ‘em and toss em into the bucket.” She pulled out a pack of slim cigarettes and lit one, taking a long drag.

“What do we need crawdads for?” Kyle asked. 

“At’s bait, kiddo!” she said with a grin. 

Janie reached down first and flipped over a smooth brown stone. A brown cloud of silt and mud splashed through the water before she saw a red and blue crawdad trying to scurry way. She snatched it just behind its pinchers and dropped it into the pail. “Got one!” she said, excited. 

“Atta girl. She’s gonna beat ya, Kyle.” Aunt Imogene took another drag from her cigarette and started measuring fishing line. She pulled about four yards from the roll and cut it. 

Kyle braved into the depths of the Greasy Fork and turned over a stone of his own. He found a mudbug hiding beneath, but lost it to the current when the little monster pinched his finger. “Awe, piss!”

Janie stifled a laugh. “That’s two!” she yelled, tossing another into the bucket. Before long, she had found seven crawdads to Kyle’s one. And it had escaped. 

“What are you doin’ that I’m not?” he asked, frustrated. 

She smiled, proud of herself. “Guess I just got a way with animals.”

“You got a way with somethin’!” he said, trying to sound mean.

“That don’t even make sense.” 

Aunt Imogene whistled loudly. “That’s gonna be enough. Get’s us started anyway.” She plunged her hand into the bucket and plucked out a lively little crawdad. Holding it by the thorax, she slid a metal hook through the back of its tail. The little guy didn’t seem to feel much, if any, pain as she did this. With a jerk of her head, she motioned Kyle to come closer. “Take your hand and pinch him here. Then, grab the pole with your other hand.” He did as he was told and watched as she did the same to another mudbug. 

Once three hooks had been baited, they walked to the other side of the yard to her small pond. “Be gentle, and just toss ‘em in,” she instructed. She then took her pole and flicked the end, sending the little crawdad out into the water. Janie and Kyle mimicked her and soon all three were standing on the banks of the pond, holding makeshift fishing poles. 

Kyle slapped the back of his neck. He had a frustrated look on his face.

“Skeeters?” Imogene asked. 

He nodded. “I always get eat up, seems like,” he said. 

Janie got an evil grin on her face. “Well, it ain’t cause you’re sweet!” 

Kyle let out an obnoxious laugh, mocking her back. 

“Let me ask you something, Kyle. If you had your druthers, would you rather be out in the mountains, huntin, hikin’, and doin’ stuff. Or, would you rather be inside, playin’ on your video games or readin’?” There was no judgment in her voice, just honest interest. 

Kyle looked over at her, a little confused. “Well, if druthers means which I’d rather do, I guess I’d pick inside. I like workin’ on computers and readin’ more than most anything, I guess.”

Imogene flicked the rod, causing the little crawdad to twitch at the end of the line. “That’s what I figured. Jus’ like yer daddy.” 

Both twins looked over at their aunt confused. They had always thought of their dad as a rugged, ‘manly’ man. 

“Don’t get me wrong, yer dad liked to hunt and fish. It was how he bonded with our daddy. Yer papaw spent a lot of time underground in those mines and always said that he was gonna spend as much time as he could in wide open spaces when he wasn’t underground. But your dad was a inside kid at heart. I remember when the first few video game deals came out. I’m old enough to remember the big arcade crazes. But yer paw wanted one he could play at home. He’d sit for hours staring at that screen.”

“My dad liked video games?” Kyle asked, bewildered.

“Sure he did. Loved ‘em. And I’ll tell you somethin’, little miss. After he went huntin’ or fishin’, he loved to come home and cook up what he’d got. Can’t tell you how good his deer stew and catfish fry’s were.”

Janie beamed a little. She’d never heard that her father cooked. It made her feel a little closer to him. And she could see that her brother was thinking the same thing. 

“Guys, yer mom loved yer dad somethin’ fierce. But when he didn’t come home, it hurt her. Hurt her bad. And I know she don’t like talkin’ about him much. But Will was your daddy and my brother and one amazin’ fella. I just wanted to share a little of what we did as young’uns with you two today. I hope you enjoyed it.” Aunt Imogene blinked away a tear. 

Janie looked over and saw Kyle’s pole twitch. “Jerk it in!” she yelled. He yanked at the pole and a giant catfish came flying through the air, landing in his arms. He made a contorted face, half excited, half terrified. Imogene came over and grabbed the fish and pulled the hook from its mouth. Janie noticed how smooth and slick the fish looked. 

Imogene tossed the fish back into the pond and dumped out the rest of the crawdads. “Good job, pal. But I think that’s enough of the great outdoors for one day.”

Kyle let out a sigh of relief and laughed. 

“What do you say we all get cleaned up and head to Hazard for some pizza?” 

The twins chimed in their agreement, and the three started back for the house. After a few steps, Janie looked back to the pond to see a fish break the surface of the water and then splash back down again. 

“Good to see you too, Dad,” she said.